The Romeo & Juliet Love
by Fresh and Formal
Summary: Troy lands the lead role as Romeo in East High's drama production. His Juliet? None other than Gabriella, of course. Will their new found love end like Romeo and Juliet's? Or will they make it work, avoiding the bitter-sweet ending?


**A/N: I have nothing against Shakespeare- I love him actually. :D With an English teacher like the one I have now, I see no need to dislike Bill (that's what she lets us call Shakespeare. But only in class. :O). We just finished up reading Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_, and I loved it. I want to read more of his plays. _Julius Caesar_ is next up on the list, but I, like other academic grade nine students at my school, have to wait for the grade ten English course. -sigh-**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you can recognize, any of Shakespeare's plays or writing, or the lyrics (not all of the lyrics of the song used are included) in this oneshot. The plot is all mine though. :D **

**Anything in **_italics _**in the story is either Shakespeare's, or something else I do not own, unless mentioned otherwise. _Bold italics_ are the lyrics. (:**

**Song that inspired this: Romeo & Juliet (2009) - Redd Stylez**

**Summary: Troy lands the lead role as Romeo in East High's drama production. His Juliet? None other than Gabriella, of course. Will their new found love end like Romeo and Juliet's? Or will they make it work, avoiding the bitter-sweet ending?**

* * *

**The Romeo & Juliet Love **

**By:**

** Fresh and Formal  
**

* * *

_"To be or not to be- that is the question:" _Chad Danforth's voice projected through the empty auditorium. "Dude, I still don't get why you agreed to do this Omelet play."

"Nice malaprop, Chad." I laughed at his last sentence. "That line is from _Hamlet_, we're not even doing that play. And Chad, again, it's _Hamlet_ not Omelet. Omelet is the food, stupid."

"_Hamlet_, Omelet- it could be called Cheeselet and I could care less!" Chad exclaimed as we walked down the auditorium isle, making our way to the stage.

We were on our free period and had just finished a free period workout with the basketball team in the gym. My team against Chad's team- I don't want to go into detail of how the game went down, but we all know my team beat Chad's by a landslide. Since we had a good scrimmage game, my dad/Coach Bolton, let us leave ten minutes early.

"Oh, and by the way, I did not agree to do this." I rolled my eyes and sat down in a chair in the front row. "Darbus is making me audition. I swear, she just has to make my life miserable because she hates my dad."

"I heard Sharpay is trying out," Zeke Baylor, another member of the basketball team, and my friend, popped up behind the chairs Chad and I were sitting in. Chad let out a girlish yelp.

I laughed, "Zeke, what school production hasn't Sharpay tried out for?"

"...There was that one-" He began.

"That was seventh grade Zeke. She had caught the chicken pox from her twin brother, Ryan. If it weren't for her dad telling her that he wouldn't give her the cell phone she wanted, she would have got up and tried out for that play." I said as a matter of fact-ly. Chad had finally recovered from Zeke's surprise appearance, and cleared his throat, trying to sound as manly as possible. Chad was about to say something when the bell for fifth period went off and students began to file in.

Yay, Drama! -eye roll-

"Good afternoon my young thespians! Today, we will not be doing anything due to the auditions for the play I'm holding today."

"Why aren't we doing the skits, Mrs. D? I worked hard on memorizing my lines!" Jason Cross's voice whined.

"Mr. Cross, thank you for reminding me!" Darbus nodded her head.

The class groaned mumbles of, "Nice going, Jason."

"We'll be running over your skits in a few days," With her saying that note, the class let out a content sigh. I sure am happy we're not doing the skits today, I still haven't made mine up yet. "Now that we have your homework reassigned, on with the auditions!" Darubus clapped her hands and took a seat behind her table alongside Kelsi Nielson, the composer of the underscore music. "We will begin with the couples auditions for the roles of Romeo, and of Juliet."

"Sharpay and Ryan," Kelsi's small voice echoed.

"Miss and Mr. Evans, my star pupils! I am afraid that you both cannot audition for the lead roles, but you are welcomed to audition for the supporting roles!" Darbus explained.

HA! Sharpay as if Sharpay would let Ryan try out for Romeo, leading her to try out for a smaller role.

"Yeah, well, we both know who's trying out for which role, right Ryan?" Sharpay glared at him.

Ryan sighed and stayed in his seat, "Shar will be auditioning for the role of Juliet, Mrs. Darbus." He glanced at Kelsi, silently asking for another copy of the script. "I'll just find some other role to audition for." Darbus gave him an apologetic smile, and turned her attention to Sharpay, who was now on center stage.

"This part is from-"

I drowned out the rest of Sharpay's audition by turning my _iPod_ on and plugging the earphones into my ears. When she finished, I turned my _iPod_ off. Everyone gave a round of applause as Sharpay grinned, and walked of the stage.

"Gabriella Montez," Kelsi said, smiling as she spotted Gabriella walking onto the stage, shyly. "And," She paused when Darbus grabbed the pencil she was holding and scribbled something down on the paper. "And, uh... Troy Bolton."

"What?!" I heard all the people in the auditorium gasp.

The guys on the basketball team, that were in my Drama class, began to chuckle under their breaths, "Troy, show Geeky Gabby up!"

"Dude, shit, this is gonna be hilarious!"

"Watch her humiliate herself!"

I laughed along as I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my jeans, and joined Gabriella on stage.

Kelsi stood up from her seat, and moved to the front of the stage. She dropped two books onto the ground in front of Gabriella and I, and pushed it towards us. I picked up both books, and passed one to Gabriella.

As Kelsi made her way back, Darbus rearranged her glasses and said, "Act II, Scene II."

I flipped through the pages, as did Gabriella.

"That's the balcony scene!"

I was no genius, but I was smart enough to know that this scene that Darbus wanted me to act was a very lovey-dovey one!

"Is there a problem, Mr. Bolton?" She raised her eyebrow at me- an amused expression obviously showing on her face.

"No," I mumbled. I could hear the guys laughing already.

"Miss Montez, please take your place at the balcony!" Darbus exclaimed, pointing to the makeshift balcony that, most likely, many students in detention had worked on. Gabriella took her place, and Darbus nodded at me.

Might as well get this over with; I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. "_But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?/ It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!/ Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon/ Who is already sick and pale with grief._" I looked up from the script- still reading the lines- to where Gabriella was standing The lighting crew adjusted the lights, which made her skin glow more than it usually did. I looked down to read the new set of lines, "_The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars/As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven/ Would through the airy region stream so bright/ That birds would sing and think it were not night./ See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!/ O, that I were a glove upon that hand,/ That I might touch that cheek!_"

"_Ay me!_" Gabriella said shyly, not yet in character, as she leaned her cheek upon the palm of her hand.

"_She speaks./ O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art/ As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,/ As is a winged messenger of heaven/ Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes/ Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him/_" At this point, the lighting made her look like an angel. Or... maybe she already looked like an angel, and I just hadn't noticed before.

"_O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?/ Deny thy father and refuse thy name;/ Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,/ And I'll no longer be a Capulet._" Gabriella's sweet voice reached my ears, and my palms began to sweat.

"Enough!" Darbus's voice cracked through the silence of the room. Gabriella turned her head, and looked at Darbus with fear in her eyes. I turned my head as well, and waited for what was to come. "...THAT WAS AMAZING! Beautiful! Fantastic! Gosh, Kelsi! Give these two their own copy of the play!" Darbus began clapping like Sharpay did after opening her eyes to the pink convertible her 'daddy' gave her for her birthday this year.

Sharpay shrieked, "THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

"It's okay, sis. You can audition for another role in the play," Ryan stated, trying to get his twin to calm down. She became silent, but gave one last glare and hiss towards Gabriella.

I looked out into the audience and saw our classmates, and fellow students standing and clapping, but no where could I find my friends.

After the clapping had died down, I saw Gabriella descend the steps of the makeshift balcony, and make her way down the stage steps. I followed after her.

The fifth period bell rang, and our Drama class filed out of the auditorium, and probably out of the building.

_**Baby can you listen to what I say.  
Not tryin' to be rude 'cause I don't wanna hurt ya.  
Time to make a change.**_

"Hey!" I called. Gabriella grabbed her shoulder bag and speed walked away from me. I ran after her, finding her outside at the bus stop. "Gabriella?"

"What do you want, Troy?" She whispered, readjusting the strap of her bag.

"I, uh..." I was tongue tied? Since when did I, Troy Bolton, get tongue tied around girls? "Um, you did great back there!"

"You're just saying that because you and you're jock friends want me to humiliate myself," She rolled her eyes.

Ouch. She heard that?

"Look, uh, you weren't supposed to hear them," I stood next to her, waiting for the bus.

"Of course," She sighed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Sure you are," She wasn't looking at me, but I could tell she had just rolled her eyes again.

"Can you just listen to me?!" I said in a louder tone than what I intended. I cleared my throat, "I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Since we're the lead roles of this play thing, do you think we could put aside our differences and ignore what everyone else says?"

"...I- I'm not sure, Troy." She bit her lip, nervously.

"I don't want you getting hurt by what you hear from them. I want to change things between us," I smiled sincerely.

The bus came to a stop in front of us and we both walked in, choosing seats at the back.

"Promise?" She questioned.

"Yeah, promise."

"Okay, but you have to pinky promise." She pointed her pinky at me.

I laughed, "Are you for real, Gabriella?"

"I take my pinky promises very seriously, mind you!" She huffed, putting her arms across her chest.

Woah.

I gulped, and tried not to look at her in _that_ way.

"Give me your hand," I said, once I cleared my mind. Gabriella looked up at me. When she didn't give me her hand, I took it from its place from her lap. I took her pinky finger and laced it with mine. "I promise."

She grinned at me with that mind boggling smile, and I couldn't help but think that this was a start to a great new friendship.

THE ROMEO & JULIET LOVE

"I'm home!" I called out as I opened, and than closed the door.

"Troy, it's almost 7, where were you?" I heard my mom's (Lucille Bolton) motherly voice echo.

"Darbus had auditions for her play thing today," I replied.

"How was torture with Darbus, Son?" Dad chuckled.

"Jack!" Mom whacked Dad upside the head.

"Ow!" He yelped.

"What your father meant was--" Lucielle began.

"Today was fun, actually." I kicked my shoes off beside the hallway closet, and made my way into the kitchen. "Darbus totally rigged the sign up sheet for the school play, and wrote my name on it though,"

"Darbus," Dad hissed. "I'm going to have a talk with her."

"Jack," Mom scolded and he calmed down. "Continue, sweetie."

"Yeah, so. I got paired with this girl, Gabriella, in my Drama class, for the main characters..." I began to explain.

"MAIN?! Oh god, that woman is--"

"Jack!" This time it was Mom's turn to hiss- Dad finally took this as a sign to shut up and finish his dinner.

"We acted out a part of a scene and, before we knew it, Darbus was shrieking as if she were Sharpay. We both got the parts- no callbacks or anything." I smiled, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

"Oh, sweetie! That's wonderful!" Mom hugged me. "What play?"

"_Romeo & Juliet_," I replied.

"Awh! Jack, remember doing that play in high school?" Mom squealed.

I raised an eyebrow, "Dad was in a play?"

Dad was drinking some water, but stopped mid-gulp and began coughing, "It was just a one time thing. High school," He cleared his throat.

"A one time thing?!" Mom exclaimed. "I mean, sure it was just a high school play! But that's how we met!"

"I remember meeting you at one of my basketball games. It was on home court, just after I had scored the winning basket," Dad winked at Mom.

I think I just gagged a little... -shudder- I didn't need to see the parents flirting.

"Dad quit trying to impress Mom. Mom knows what's true and what's not," I chuckled.

"Oh, he's telling the truth, just not the truth on how we first met." Mom rolled her eyes. "It was our last year in high school, and our teachers made it mandatory to be in, at least, one Drama production to be able to graduate."

"Yeah, and what bull that was." Dad mumbled.

I laughed, "Well, I'll let you two finish dinner."

"Aren't you going to have some too, Troy?" Mom questioned.

"Nope, already ate." I walked out of the kitchen, and made my way to my bedroom.

I threw my bag carelessly on the ground, letting it land next to my computer desk. I jumped onto my bed, opened the book Kelsi had given me earlier and began to attempt to memorize my lines.

Gabriella and I began closer each day after the day we got casted as _Romeo_ and _Juliet_.

"Troy," I heard Mom call from outside the door.

"Hold on, okay Gabriella?" I whispered into my cell phone. She stayed silent. "Yes, Mom?" I said, opening my bedroom door.

"Why are you still up?" She questioned. "It's almost 1, sweetie."

"Sorry, I just finished homework." I pointed to the open books on my desk.

"Why didn't you work on it sooner?"

I blushed, "Uh... I was running through lines with Gabriella."

I looked back to my mother, "Ah, I see. Well, next time you run through lines with Gabriella, make sure you have your homework done first." She was smiling at me.

"Right, okay." I closed the door as she walked back into her bedroom. "Sorry about that," I said while turning off the lights and made my way back to my bed. "Thanks for helping me with my homework."

"No problem, Troy. That's what friends are for," I heard Gabriella giggle through her phone.

"It means a lot, I mean, seeing as you picked up at 11:30 in the night and helped me straight through 1 o' clock," I pulled the covers over my body.

"It's okay, according to my cell phone plan, I have calls free after 7. So, you're lucky Mister," She joked.

"I really am." I grinned. I heard Gabriella yawn. "Anyways, I'll let you go to sleep. See you tomorrow,"

"Night Troy,"

TxG

"Hey Mrs. Bolton!" I heard Gabriella's angelic voice greet Mom from downstairs.

"Gabriella! It's so nice to see you again! Troy is upstairs cleaning his room," She smiled. "You know, he hasn't let a girl in his room before. He barely lets me in," She whispered.

Gabriella giggled, "Really now?"

"It's true. I haven't been in his room since he turned ten. You'll be the first since me- but don't tell him I told you," She winked and pointed to the stairs that led to the upper part of the house.

Gabriella laughed and made her way up the stairs, finding her way around.

TxG

"Hey Mrs. Montez, is Gabriella home?" I questioned as Gabriella's mom answered the door.

"Troy! Why of course she's here. She's in her room running over lines," She smiled. "Go right on up," She pointed to the stairs. "Just keep the door open, okay Troy?"

I blushed as I made my way passed her, and bolted up the stairs.

I knocked on the door and heard a faint, "Come in!"

I whispered, "I think you mom thinks we're going out or something!"

"What?" Gabriella gasped.

I motioned for her to be quiet and pointed to the open door, "She wants me to keep the door open,"

Gabriella burst into fits of laughter, leading me to join in shortly after.

* * *

"Hey Wildcat?" I turned my head to face Gabriella.

"Yes, baby?"

"Why'd you take me here?" She questioned, looking into my eyes.

I had met up with Gabriella when the bell signaling the end of the day had rang half an hour ago.

I took her to the roof of the school. The roof top garden- my top secret hide out.

I walked passed the science club a couple days ago before rehearsals, frustrated. I yelled out- to no one- that I needed somewhere peaceful and quiet to think, somewhere no one could interrupt me. And in a blink of an eye, I was breathing fresh air and listening to nothing but the birds chirping, and the wind dancing through the leaves on the trees. I had thanked them endlessly.

"I just wanted to bring you up here," I smiled. "It's relaxing up here, and I thought I could share this with you- you've been working hard. And rehearsals don't start for another half hour,"

"Yes, I'm aware of that," She smiled back.

Silence filled the air, but something was off- I could just feel it.

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" I questioned, moving to stand behind Gabriella.

She leaned into me and sighed, "I don't think we should continue what we've been doing, Troy."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, "What?"

"We've been going behind people's backs," She sighed again.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Troy, have you told any one that we're dating?" She turned her head to look up at me.

I looked down into her deep, caramel coloured eyes, "No,"

"And why is that?"

"I- I want what we have to just be between you and me, Ella." I admitted, rubbing my hands up and down her arms. "If people around school found out about us--"

"Your popularity will drop because people found out you're dating a geek," Gabriella stated, and shrugged out of my arms.

"Ella, I didn't say that!" I protested.

"You didn't have to," Her voice cracked.

"You are not a geek! You know I don't like all this attention I get. I didn't ask for it!" I exclaimed. "Baby, I need you," I whispered.

Gabriella shook her head and walked down the stairs, leaving me without another word. I watched as her figure disappeared behind the doors.

I fell to my knees as tears began to blind my sight.

**  
_Oh, can't let this thing go,  
But it's hard to hold on,  
I'm trying to be strong, but it's too much for me._**

THE ROMEO & JULIET LOVE

"Troy," Zeke yelled out, waving his arms and jumping up and down along the three point line.

"Troy! I'm open!" Jason shouted, running past Chad who was blocking him.

I was dribbling the basketball up court, looking for an opening so I could shoot. My eyes darted towards Zeke. No one was guarding him. I glanced at Jason, who was free, but Chad's bushy curls bounced into Jason's face, causing Jason to falter. I dribbled to the top of the key, not noticing Chad move away from Jason, and run towards me. As soon as the ball leaves my hands, the ball collides with Chad's hand- it had just been blocked.

Coach's whistle echoed throughout the gym during our free period work out. We all froze in mid-step as he made his way onto the court.

"Bolton!" Coach yelled angrily. I sighed and turned around facing my dad, the coach. He wasn't going to go easy on me in front of the team during practice. This is school. He was just another teacher, and I was another one of his students. "Do you not see your teammates? They're wide open! Baylor was calling out to you, did you not hear him?!" Coach shouted, while pointing to Zeke. Everyone stayed silent as he lashed out on me. "You are so lucky this wasn't a game in the season," He glared daggers at me. "It would be a shame to this school if it was," He began to pace.

"A shame to this school, or a shame to you?" I retorted. I could see Chad's eyes widen at my sharp remark.

His mouth opened and closed, not knowing what to say, "You're grounded!"

"You're a teacher," I smirked. "You can't ground me."

"I may be a teacher, but I also am your father. When you get home, you'll be doing any chore that comes to mind. You can't watch T.V- not even to watch the _NBA_ games. You can't use the computer, either- research for school projects is acceptable. You can't go out with friends, or use your cell phone or _iPod_," He listed off.

"I don't care," I rolled my eyes. This was nothing. I didn't need any of the electronics he listed anyways.

"And you can't leave the house to go see that girl to rehearse that stupid play. You aren't allowed to see her out of school," He said in disgusted tone.

That last sentence tugged at my heart ways. I was trying to avoid telling anyone of what happened yesterday. When she broke up with me, I was crushed. Yesterday, I was going to tell Gabriella I loved her, even if it had been only a few weeks since we first began dating.

"That girl has a name," I glared. "It's Gabriella."

"Like she actually means anything to you," Someone on the team yelled.

"She's a geek!"

"An anti-social!"

"Captain, you can't be dating her. It'll ruin your reputation! It'll make the team look bad!"

"Dude, she's captain of the Scholastic Decathlon,"

"Who would want to date a nerd?" Everyone laughed.

My mood changed from stressed out, to pissed off. I turned away from Coach and towards the team I called my friends, "Don't talk about her like that! She means everything to me!"

By now, they were all bent over, dying of laughter, "Good one, Captain!"

Coached chuckled from behind me, "You can't be serious, Troy. That girl--"

"Gabriella," I hissed at him. "Her name is Gabriella!" I yelled in aggravation. Everyone silenced.

The bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. The team slowly backed out of the gym and stumbled off to the change rooms.

"That girl has changed you Troy," He clasped a hand onto my shoulder. "That girl and that play have changed you. You need to get your head in the game,"

TxG

"Gabby, what happened yesterday?" Taylor questioned.

"Nothing, why do you ask?"

"Gabs, Troy looks like shit. He messed up all his lines at yesterday's rehearsal. What the fuck went down?" Sharpay said, irritatedly.

"We... I overreacted to something he said," Gabriella admitted, not looking at her best friends. "Or, more like, what he didn't say."

"You make no sense to me, whatsoever," Sharpay exaggeratedly sighed. Taylor nodded in agreement.

"We dated for almost a month, and he didn't tell anyone about us. To me, it felt like he was scared of what other people would have thought about the relationship we had," Gabriella spilled, frowning.

"What's with the past tense, Gabs?" Asked Sharpay.

"Don't tell us you did something stupid," Taylor added.

"I told him that I didn't think we should continue seeing each other," Gabriella's eyes began to cloud with tears, obviously regretting what she had did the day prior.

"You did what?!" Taylor blinked, not believing in what Gabriella was telling them. Taylor had thought that Gabriella finally found her Prince Charming, even if her Prince Charming was the Lunkhead Basketball Boy.

"You two are probably the most perfect match made in theatrical heaven!" Sharpay exclaimed. She was happy for Gabriella when she admitted that Troy had asked her to be his girlfriend. Sharpay did have a crush on Troy before, but once Zeke sent her his home made cookies, Sharpay knew that Zeke was the one for her and not Troy. She now believe that Troy was the one for her best friend, Gabriella.

"You're just taking a break from each other, right?" Taylor questioned quietly.

Gabriella shook her head hesitantly, "I regret it."

"Well then, go up to him and tell him that!" Exclaimed Sharpay.

"I can't- he'll ask me why I did it, and... and I can't tell him why!" Gabriella said, panicked.

"Why did you break it off with him?" Taylor and Sharpay questioned, in sync with each other.

"I was-" Gabriella paused. "I am falling way too fast. I shouldn't be falling in love with him this quickly! I shouldn't be falling in love with him, period," Gabriella explained.

"You can't control who you fall in love with, Gabs," Taylor pointed out.

"I can't be falling for him, guys! We're not meant to be," Gabriella "The Jock isn't supposed to end up loving The Geek!"

_**I want to love you but I just can't seem to do it yet.  
When everybody's saying no, your heart is saying go.  
It ain't the same;**_

THE ROMEO & JULIET LOVE

"Good rehearsal everyone," Kelsi called out as Darbus nodded in agreement. As the crew began to clean up, the cast began to grab their belongings and exit the auditorium.

Darbus stood in front of me, "Bolton,"

"I'm sorry Mrs. D, but I can't stay any longer than needed. My dad grounded me," I sighed as I placed my script into my backpack.

"Yes, I heard what happened last period," She shook her head. "You have changed,"

"You too, Mrs. D? I get enough of this from my team and my coach. And my coach just happens to be my father; that's double the pressure," I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not implying it's a bad thing, Mr. Bolton," She smiled. Darbus was actually smiling at me? "I think the theater has done you well as much as Miss Montez has,"

"I'm not allowed to see Gabriella out of school, Mrs. D; father's grounding rules- rule number six, if I counted correctly," I frowned, "Mrs. D, even if I was allowed to see her, I wouldn't be able to; we're not seeing each other anymore,"

"The ice caps are melting, the polar bears are on the verge of extinction, and teen aged boys are obeying what adults say!" She exclaimed dramatically. ...Or maybe it wasn't that dramatic, considering the fact she speaks like that more than half of the time. "What has the world come to?!"

I chuckled then felt my pocket for my cell phone but frowned again, remembering the no cell phone rule, "Do you have the time?"

"It's just about 5," Darbus replied.

I groaned, "If you still want me in this play, I have to leave now Mrs. D. I have to be home by 5:30," I ran off and waved a hand as Darbus called out a goodbye.

* * *

A week after the little talk I had with Darbus, I found myself walking home in the peaceful silence, my head down looking at the ground, I bumped into something and fell. As I fell, that something fell with me- fell on me.

"I am so sorry!" I knew that voice.

"Gabriella," I flipped my hair out of my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. "I'm sorry. Not just for bumping into you, but I'm sorry in general."

"Troy," She quickly got up, realizing who she fell on. "No, don't be. It's my fault. I ruined your reputation- I should be sorry," She walked down the street, moving her hands up and down her arms as a cool breeze flew by. I jumped up and followed her down the sidewalk.

"Ella," I said, noticing her head move down- focusing on the ground.

"Don't 'Ella' me," She scoffed. "I know what you're trying to do. You can't make me go crawling back to you,"

"Gabriella," I placed my hands onto her shoulders, stopping her from walking. "You have no idea how much I'm going to get in trouble for this,"

"It's always about you, isn't it?" She rolled her eyes as she tried to escape my hold.

"Gabriella, can you take me back please? I've never felt the way I feel with you with anyone else," I pleaded.

"_Prodigious birth of love it is to me,/ That I must love a loathed enemy_." She read _Juliet_'s lines, looking into my eyes.

"Gabriella, I am not you're enemy! I'm tired of this! I'm tired of not talking to you excluding our rehearsals. In rehearsals we are _Shakespeare's _characters _Romeo _and _Juliet_. Just because we're from different cliques, doesn't mean we can't be together. What do cliques even mean to us, Gabriella? I'm an athlete. I'm into sports. You're into science and math, and all that smart stuff that I can't comprehend. We're from opposite groups, yet, we're starring in a play together." I stated. "I meant what I said to you the day we became friends. I wanted to change things between us," I explained, moving my hands from her shoulders, down her arms and intertwined our fingers so our hands were together. "We've already broken the barrier, Gabriella. Kelsi is dating Jason, Chad can't stop talking about Taylor, Zeke's cookies finally got to Sharpay, Ryan's thinking of asking Martha Cox out, and you've become best friends with Sharpay." I took a breath.

Gabriella's eyes had lighted to the caramel shade I grew to love, but dropped to a shade as dark as black as soon as a voice shouted my name.

"Troy-" Our heads turned to the house where the voice had come from. Dad.

"Gabriella! You're visiting again! Why don't you kids come inside?" Mom's soothing, motherly voice called.

"Lucille! Why are you inviting that girl into our house? She's done nothing but corrupt our son's mind! He's changed, Lucille, and it's all because of her!" He pointed towards us, walking out onto the lawn, He make his way towards us while Mom was grabbing at his hands the whole time, trying to stop him.

I heard Gabriella sniffle and felt a drop of water land on my hand- she was crying.

"Ella, I love you," I blurted out.

"You what?!" Dad, Mom and Gabriella all exclaimed. Gabriella's fingers tensed around mine.

I rubbed my thumbs against the back of her hands, "My dad is right. You changed me," I said, looking at my father in the eyes.

"Thank you, son! You've finally come to your senses!" He broke into smiles.

"But," I turned to Gabriella. "It certainly is for the better."

"I love you too, Troy," Gabriella grinned. Her glow had returned, and I knew she meant what she had just said. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I was falling for you, and it all happened too fast. I wasn't sure if you felt the same, so I did what I did and... yeah,"

"Don't doubt what we have, Gabriella. Whether it be our friendship or our relationship, know that I care for you. If you fall, I'll be there to catch you. Ella, I care too much to let what we have die," I said hugging her tightly.

I heard Dad and Mom whispering to one another and Dad sigh and apology to her. They walked towards us, "Troy, Gabriella... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the way I have acted. I'm sorry for what I have said. I guess I was just caught up in all of this... drama. I wasn't ready for my only boy, my only child, to get into a serious relationship. A relationship that blossomed as quickly as mine and Lucille's did." He admitted. "If you would forgive me, I'd love to turn to a new page in our lives,"

I glanced down at Gabriella, whose arms had snaked around my torso. "I would love to as well, Coach."

"Jack," He corrected, offering a smile and his hand to shake. Gabriella let go of me to shake his hand. When she shook his hand, Dad pulled her in and hugged her. "You know, after hearing Troy mumbling in his sleep the past month, I think I could get used to having a daughter-in-law," He guided Gabriella into our house for dinner.

Mom pushed me forward, into the house. My eyes widened as he and Mom burst into laughter while Gabriella tilted her head back at me, looking for answers. "Dad!"

_**No I don't want us to fall, that's not the story at all.  
I care too much to let our ending be the Romeo and Juliet love.

* * *

**_

**A/N: HOLY TAE! I seriously thought I'd never finish this! I've been working off and on with this oneshot, for almost 3 days now. I was planning on finishing it on Christmas Eve, and post it on Christmas Day, as a present to all of you guys. But I didn't have the time. I got back from Boxing Day shopping (damn, those lines are chaos) and began to finish this up. I ran out of inspiration towards the end (I've listened to _Romeo & Juliet_ 697 times since I started this fic). Hopefully it makes sense, and you all like it. Review for me and tell me what you think?**

**Hm... seeing as my readers are from all over the world, I don't want to leave any people out by saying, "Merry (belated) Christmas." **

**Knowing me, I'm too lazy to _Google_ all the holidays at this time of year, so I'll just have to settle for HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! :D (L)**

**AND! Merry Boxing Day everyone! :D  
**


End file.
